Waking Up To A Sex Difference

Wondering why you sleep soundly while an extended stay in dreamland often eludes your mate?

Research at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver indicates that the phenomenon may be related to one`s sex.

Women are far less prone to a number of sleep disrupting disorders, says Dr. Martin Reite, director of the health facility`s Sleep Disorder Center, which treats hundreds of patients annually.

Sleep apnea syndrome, in which sleepers frequently awaken because their breathing stops, is a prime example. Men suffer from the disorder at least five times as often as women, Reite estimates.

Various forms of insomnia and sleep walking also strike men more often. Reasons for the sleep gap are unclear, Reite says, but there are two hypothoses.

One is that female sex hormones may somehow protect women from the sleep disorders. Studies which have shown that post-menopausal women who lack large quantities of the hormones experience the disorders far more often than premenopausal women, seem to support the contention.

Another factor could simply be body structure differences between men and women, which Reite says could contribute to air passageway impediments that cause some types of sleep apnea.